How to get succession planning right
Lynne Burdon, founder of Bolt Burdon and Bolt Burdon Kemp, says at the heart of all law firm planning should be a desire to improve a firm. I have always believed that the key to success is to recruit and promote only those people who are potentially better than you.
I’ve heard of so many law firms that fail to think about the long-term future and properly plan for leadership succession. This is a an even bigger problem when founding partners retire or where someone has been the managing partner for a long time. Sometimes managing partners have even had to put off their retirement date as the firm scrambles to find a successor. Having a good long-term plan is essential to guarantee that the right person or team is in place to ensure the firm’s core – its values, ethos and culture – is properly preserved.
My own succession plan began eight years before my retirement date and through this experience there were a number of important lessons we learned.
- Chose a retirement date and stick to it
I always knew I would be retiring on 31 March 2021 because that was the date I had fixed over 30 years ago when I drafted our first partnership agreement. Roger Bolt and I founded what is now two law firms, Bolt Burdon and Bolt Burdon Kemp in 1986. I became managing partner just a few years later.
I have always believed in ‘firm first’ – that every person must put the good of the firm before their own self-interest. I’ve also always believed that partners who ‘hang around for too long’ are not good for a firm, they need to make way for younger partners – so extending my retirement date was never really an option for me. It was really helpful to have a fixed date to work to.
- Start planning early – and seek professional help
In Bolt Burdon Kemp, nearly eight years before my retirement we set up ‘The Succession Development Project’ for the equity partners. We brought in consultants who worked closely with me in planning the project and facilitating our monthly awaydays. During these meetings we worked on becoming a strong team – a group that knew and trusted each other, who listened to each other and who were comfortable engaging in healthy conflict.
Together we explored things like the management tasks a law firm needs done, the decisions that need to be made and who should make them, and how things might change in the future as generations Y and Z take over as leaders. We discussed the roles partners were undertaking and the benefits and opportunity costs of having a partner take each role compared with a senior employee. After about a year we felt strong and started talking about the timeline to my retirement.
- Think about different management structures
Just because a firm has had a managing partner it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best structure for the future. It’s a good idea to explore other options – a small management team or a non-lawyer CEO, for example. In the end we decided that a new managing partner was right for us. We considered other key roles and decided that we also needed a full-time finance partner as we had grown so much.
- Choose your successor carefully
Taking over as managing partner is a huge step for a practicing lawyer – a strong desire for the role is essential. It involves a big commitment to training and a strong determination to put leadership and management ahead of interesting legal issues. It was not until July 2015, over two years after the start of the project, that we first began discussing who might be interested in succeeding me as managing partner. We agreed a two-month period for partners to think and talk among themselves and arranged individual coaching sessions for all those who were interested.
- Invest time in on-the-job training
It’s vital the succession plan allows for a careful handover so that momentum is not lost. Both the incoming finance partner and new managing partner at Bolt Burdon Kemp, Jonathan Wheeler, shadowed me for a year and then I worked closely with them for a year after their appointment. We left plenty of time for a change of plan if things didn’t work out.
- Think about what’s next for the outgoing leader
It’s important to ensure that the outgoing leader can continue to make a valuable contribution after the official handover. We discussed my new role early and we agreed to finance my training as a business coach. Since I stepped down, I’ve been coaching our best people, delivering management training for all our staff and facilitating internal away-days for all sorts of groups within the firm. I designed and delivered my ‘Lawyer to Leader’ training – a 10-day mini-MBA training for our equity partners of the future. I also wrote my book Lynne’s Laws of Leadership with the intention of helping preserve all I had learned over the last 30 years.
At the heart of all law firm planning should be a desire to improve a firm. I have always believed that the key to success is to recruit and promote only those people who are potentially better than you. I’m very proud that I’ve left both firms in the hands of better managing partners than me.
A successful succession process is relatively straightforward – but it’s lengthy and requires careful planning and hard work. My advice is to start early and allow time for the task.
Lynne Burdon continues her work of coaching and consultancy for law firm leaders.
Learn more here: www.lynneburdon.com
